Wastewater Treatment Plant

The Wastewater Treatment Plant, located at 9300 W. Jefferson Avenue in Detroit, is the largest single-site wastewater
treatment facilities in the United States. Of the more than $22.5 million spent to ready the plant for its February 1940
startup, $10 million was spent on plant construction with the balance going to complete the network of huge interceptor
sewers through which a combined stream of storm and sanitary wastewater flows to the plant from communities throughout
metro Detroit.

The treatment plant was originally designed to provide primary treatment (screening of solids and chlorination) for
the wastewater generated by 2.4 million people and, with modifications, as many as 4 million people. The plant’s service
area in 1940 included Detroit and 11 nearby suburban communities. Secondary treatment (more rigorous screening and treating
and disinfection of biodegradable solids to produce an even cleaner effluent) was introduced in the 1960s. DWSD’s Wastewater
Treatment Plant continues to be the recipient of continual upgrades in order to ensure it is capable of staying abreast of
ever more stringent regulatory standards.

Currently, the Wastewater Treatment Plant services the needs of 35-percent of the state’s population contained within
Detroit and 76 other communities in a service area of more than 946 square miles. In 1999, the Michigan section of the
American Society of Civil Engineers named the Wastewater Treatment Plant one of the top 10 engineering projects of the 20th
century.

Industrial Waste Control Division

The Department’s Industrial Waste Control Division, located at 303 S. Livernois, is responsible for implementing and
enforcing city and federal regulations pertaining to the pretreatment of industrial wastewater.